Fact-Check Contradicts Minnesota GOP Senate Nominee Michele Tafoya's Claim She Isn't 'Embarrassed' by Her State
Key Takeaways
- •CNN KFile uncovered a since-deleted March 2023 tweet in which Republican Senate nominee Michele Tafoya wrote that she was embarrassed to live in Minnesota, contradicting her claim that she never made such remarks.
- •In the deleted exchange, Tafoya told another user that leaving Minnesota was her plan and said she was considering moving to Tennessee.
- •A CNN review found Tafoya stated at least four separate times in three years that she planned to leave Minnesota, while often identifying as a part-time Floridian and praising that state's conservative governance.
- •Tafoya and Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are competing for the U.S. Senate seat held by Tina Smith, who is not seeking reelection and will vacate it in January 2027.
- •September polls showed a tightly contested race, with Flanagan leading by one to four points in two surveys and a third poll finding the candidates in a dead heat.
Republican strategists are counting on the possibility that if Democrats flip any GOP-held U.S. Senate seats in the 2026 midterm elections, they can offset those losses with pickups of their own. One of their target states is Minnesota, where Republican nominee Michele Tafoya is facing Democratic nominee Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. But Tafoya is now confronting a controversy over past criticism of Minnesota — remarks she is trying to distance herself from.
During a recent radio interview in the state, Tafoya was asked about her earlier comments. "If I were embarrassed to be from Minnesota, would I be running for the United States Senate to represent Minnesota? I have never said that," the Senate hopeful responded, according to Andrew Kaczynski of CNN's KFile.
Kaczynski reported, however, that KFile, the CNN research team that reviews the past statements and social media activity of politicians and public figures, uncovered a "since-deleted tweet" from March 2023 in which Tafoya — a former television sports reporter who spent years as a sideline reporter on NBC's "Sunday Night Football" — contradicted her recent claim. In the X post, Tafoya wrote, "I'm embarrassed to say I live in Minnesota. This state has gone so far left it's amazing any of the snow still sticks."
"When another user told her she could leave," Kaczynski explained in his KFile report, "Tafoya replied, 'That's the plan! Have a great day!' She added that she was considering moving to Tennessee. A day after that, asked by another user 'promise?' she wrote, 'Yes. I want to make you and your 35 followers happy.' The deleted exchange was part of a broader pattern of Tafoya criticizing the state she is now running to represent."
Kaczynski continued: "A CNN KFile review found that, in the years before launching her Senate campaign, in tweets and on her podcast, Tafoya repeatedly said she planned to leave Minnesota. At times, she described Minnesota in sharply negative terms because of its politics, while often identifying herself as a part-time Floridian and praising that state as a model of conservative governance. In just the past three years, Tafoya told followers, at least four separate times, that she planned to leave the state."
Minnesota currently has two Democratic U.S. senators: Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, who is not seeking reelection. Tafoya and Flanagan are competing for the seat Smith will vacate in January 2027.
Polling released in September points to a close contest. A co/efficient poll found Flanagan ahead by only 1 percentage point, while a Quantus Insights survey showed her with a 4-point lead. A KSTP/SurveyUSA poll, conducted days before early voting was set to begin in Minnesota, found Tafoya and Flanagan in a dead heat. With the September surveys showing the nominees separated by no more than four points, even small shifts in voter sentiment between now and Election Day could prove decisive.
